Will (philosophy)
Will is a
philosophical concept that is defined in several different ways.
Will as internal drive
Nietzsche defines will similarly to the "any internally motivated action" usage, but more narrowly. In this sense, will is more a "creative spark," a certain independence and stubbornness. A person who choose not to steal because the
Ten Commandments said so would
not be exercising their will; neither would someone buying some music because their friends recommended it. Someone who independently forms their own moral system or who composes a musical composition pleasing to themself, however, would be exercising will.
Idealism: Will as all
In idealist models of reality, the material world is either non-existent or a secondary artifact of the "true" world of ideas. In such worlds, it can be said that
everything is an act of will. Even if you are arrested by the police, this is actually an act of your will, too; if you didn't want it to happen, you could have thought otherwise. This line of thought is seen among philosophers such as
Arthur Schopenhauer in his book
The World as Will and Representation; it is also seen in proponents of a mystically-oriented universe such as
Aleister Crowley.
Free Will
The standard use of this term is as a distinction between internally motivated and caused events and external events. Jumping off a cliff would be an act of free will; accidentally falling or being pushed off a cliff would not be an act of free will.
Some people believe that seemingly "free" actions aren't actually free, or that the entire concept is a chimera. The argument generally goes along the lines that since "internal" beliefs are affected by earlier external events, nothing is truly an internal choice, because everything you do is
predetermined. Alternately, if there is no foreordained future, we may be at the mercy of the randomness of
quantum physics, which may also negate free will.
In related disciplines
Psychologists also deal with issues of will; some people are highly
intrinsicly motivated (Nietzsche would approve of them) and do whatever seems best to them, while others are "weak-willed" and easily suggestible (extrinsicly motivated) by society or outward inducement. They also study the phenomenon of
Akrasia, wherein people seemingly act against their best interests and know that they are doing so (for instance, restarting cigarette smoking after having intellectually decided to quit). Advocates of
Sigmund Freud's psychology stress the importance of the influence of the
unconscious mind upon the apparent conscious exercise of will.
The sociologist
Ferdinand Tönnies, in analysing group psychology, distinguishes between will directed at furthering the interests of the group (
Wesenwille or "essential will"), and will directed at furthering individual goals (
Kürwille or "arbitrary will").
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1911 Encyclopædia Britannica - WILL*
Autistics may not experience will as we understand it
